Wow, that game was something, wasn't it? ESPN will probably do an NFL's Greatest Games feature on that within two to three years.

In my estimation, these were the two main factors tonight:

1. Officiating: This was the most poorly officiated game in playoff history. Baltimore got at least 14 points because of the officials. The Tuck Rule miss and the interference on Baltimore's INT return in the first quarter that wasn't called are huge examples.

2. Coaching: The Broncos didn't do too well in this department. Jack Del Rio should have put Champ on Boldin, and should have bracketed the speed merchant Smith. I wasn't surprised when he got two long TD's. He is dangerous. He almost had another one.

Denver didn't do a well enough job of scouting you guys, apparently. I knew it would be about running and the deep ball, sort of like the old Raiders (except you guys have a better RB than any back the Raiders had before Marcus Allen).

And, John Fox was too conservative. They should have thrown a few passes at the end of regulation. It reminded me of the 98 Vikes when Denny Green had Randall kneel down in the same situation. His job could be on the line. One more playoff game like this next year, and he might be shown the door.

On to next week, though: I think that Baltimore will win, no matter who wins this Hou-NE game. They should have defeated NE last year, and I have been having visions of the Texans getting the title game at home and losing(shades of the Steelers under Cowher).

I was forced to miss the first quarter due to a funeral, so I missed the interference call- so I'll have to defer to someone else on that one.

But as for the Tuck rule... if that was from the play where Kruger recovered the fumble, I initially thought it could be close, but the replay shows that while his arm is going forward.. the ball does indeed appear to be moving when his arm is going forward HOWEVER the most important part of the play was the repossession. Even with the ball slightly moving, Manning re-establishes possession of the ball as his arm gets hit again to jeer the ball loose after he's tucked it. And that is why the play stood. 1) It would have had to have been indisputable evidence but 2) It was the right call. Had he lost it outright after the first blow, it would've been overturned, but the fact that he re-clutched it into his frame just before it got jeered out with the bigger blow- is what made the play stand.

In terms of the coaching, I definitely did feel like Denver did a lot of playing not to lose in this game. I kept thinking to myself that your offense was going to eventually go for the "big play" because they'd essentially lulled us to sleep all game long taking those short to intermediate completions- the big shot deep was coming... but it never came. I think the only logical reason behind this was the Ed Reed factor. Much like last year besides that missed tackle on Moreno in the first half, we didn't see or hear much from Ed Reed this entire game. I think we clearly made it a point to keep the long intermediate to deep passes from being executed and simply told our corners to not get beat deep. If we get beat, make it be getting beat by a comeback and not beat by a double move. And that philosophy worked- to a point.

In terms of your coaches scouting our team, I think a big part that you haven't factored in was/is the offensive coordinator change. So much of our offensive gameplan has changed due to the new wrinkles that Caldwell has inserted into his playcalling vs Cameron. With Cameron we NEVER (okay maybe 1/35 pass attempts) would we go with a route that was run inside- like not even a simple slant. Instead our offense was composed of running out routes, deep out routes, comeback routes... and of course the 9 route- that is it. The Broncos first gameplan against us likely was a gameplan whereby they were gameplanning against Cam and his tendencies... they likely reused parts of that plan to plan for the Ravens in this game. It didn't work because Cam is no longer here. And even if they built upon that including some of the things they've seen from Caldwell since, he hasn't been around long enough to build some true tendencies on him and what he likes to do. We had really only run the game against you guys... where our execution sucked and the playcalling wasn't bad, but not great. And then we had the win against the Giants where we executed what we wanted to do. So really their was only two games that they could go from. They were at a disadvantage in this area.

Another thing, our offensive line is also completely different and has only looked this game for one previous game- that being the Colts game just last week. How can you instruct your defenders on how to prepare for a group of OL that they haven't seen play together. OL is all about chemistry and this unit has a different chemistry than the previous unit- different strengths and weaknesses as a unit. So that also increased the difficult of game planning against us. Fox was at a distinct disadvantage in the fact that the Broncos winning streak kept them from taking any kind of chances to make changes, but we on the other hand, made some drastic changes in the past month. That kind of stuff makes a difference when you figure coaching is all in the details.

I think the most prepared for us any team can truly be for us this season will be IFFF we can make it to the Super Bowl. As it would give an opposing team a whole two weeks to prepare for our strengths/weaknesses since making the changes we've made. Even the opponent we play in the AFCCG will be getting one less day than us to prepare for these changes. So that all culminates to make a difference._________________

There was a blatant holding on the 90 Yard Punt return by Holliday. Officials didn't decide this game.

Ravens ability to generate big plays in the passing game determined the game. Plus, the Defense only allowed 21 Points to the Broncos Offense._________________I'm The guy who got shunned on FFs for arguing J.J. Watt should be selected 1st Overall in the 2011 Draft. I also thought Gabe Carimi would be a Perennial Pro Bowler. Live & Learn

I knew this game was going to be close but the Broncos had so many opportunities to close out and they didn't. Dozens of costly mistakes and turnovers. So no matter how many bad calls we got there's no way that swung the game. The officiating was horrible on both sides so it was a non-factor basically. Truth is I have incredible respect for this Ravens team and I hope you guys take out the Patriots. At this point that's the best possible consolation prize I could ask for... But congrats, you absolutely deserved to win this game.

Yeah. I was talking about not watching football altogether if that call was overturned. He was clearly tucking the ball away and not trying to throw a pass. I hate the Tuck Rule with a passion. _________________